Shirley Winning Battle Against Relegation

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31375, 22 May 1967, Page 13

Shirley Winning Battle Against Relegation

Shirley-Nomads struck a vital blow in their rearguard action to save themselves from relegation when they unexpectedly beat Technical by the odd goal in five in the Hurley Shield soccer championship on Saturday.

Shirley’s win and Shamrock’s heavy defeat has now left Shamrock stranded on the bottom position, three points behind Nomads.

Since 1965 when they reached the national final of the Chatham Cup, ShirleyNomads have gradually slipped down the ladder. But their victory on Saturday has given the dub a new lease of life, following its win the previous week over Ashburton in the Chatham Cup second round.

Christchurch City and New Brighton each won very convincingly to keep themselves in line for the championship, while Western moved up to third place by its victory over High School Old Boys in the day's main game at English Fart.

Two of the smallest forwards in the competition, A. Caine (Brighton) and D. Torkington (Western), took the individual honours with four goals each. Results;—

Brighton 8, Shamrock 8. City 4, Bangers 8. ,■ Western B, H.M.I S. Shirley X Technical 2.

Back Scratching

There was something of a "yea scratch my back ana 111 scratch youra” in the goals ■cored and conceded in the Western-Old Boys tusrie at English Park. All went very nicely until the ecore reached S-S, and then Old Boys acratehed out of turn, and Western ran out winner by 5-3. Al! eight goals had about them the air of Christmas morning around the lighted tree: presents given and present* received. all in a convivial spirit. Apart from possibly Westerns second goal and the Old Boys third and even these were preventable. defensive errors played as big a part in those scored as forward pressure. D. Torklngton got four of Western's live, all opportunist efforts, taken extremely well, and two the result of smart work by the New Zealand representative, C. Bennie. But the final conclusion must have been that M defenders had been on their toes throughout a score of 2-1 to western probably was the most the match deserved. Five goals were banged home in the first IS minutes, to leave the score 3-2 to Old Boys at half-time. Three more followed, all to western, and in the second half, especially, Western fully deserved to win, both because its own play was sharper and the Old Boys’ had fallen away sharply. The Old Boys forwards were particularly unimpressive, and with the exception of B. Wilkinson gave away the ball far too casually and far too often. A. Brooks made the mistake of trying to score from too far out, while his colleagues, with Wilkinson again the shining exception. held the ball a yard or more longer than was necessary. making Western’s defensive task easier than it might have been. However, it was a game of constant movement, and the result was tn the balance until late into the game, when Torklngton added hie fourth goal and Western’s fifth, with a shot from well out that trickled its way home pest an uncertain G. Stringer, ft was that kind of a game, the goals not really being a fair summing up of the play, which was bright and entertaining.

True To Form The early match at English Park between New Brighton, second In the table, and Shamrock. lying uncomfortably In bottom position, was a true-to-form encounter, with the higher-placed team running out 8-0 winner. During the opening minutes ft looked as if Shamrock would be able to make a good fight of it, but although it never stopped trying, the task of containing this very confident Brighton side gradually became toe great. To Its credit, Shamrock made Brighton work hard for all but two of its goals, but at no time after A. Caine’s opening goal in the sixteenth minute did it look capable of getting back on terms. The Shamrock goalkeeper, D. Fellow, played gallantly, but unfortunately for him his defensive colleagues were not capable of countering the quick-silver movements of their opposing forwards, and Fellow was in constant action with the odds against him. Everything about the play of this Brighton side appeared cheeky and confident, and how happy T. Conley, now In Australia, would be to see that the work he put in with the younger players is paying off so well. The present player-coach, K. France, is the driving force the team needs, and the Improved understanding in defence, with key men D. Phillips In goal, and centre-half J. Le Poldevin in top form, makes the side a very competent unit. The four goals by the insldertgbt Caine were lust reward for bls clever movement In front of goal and his willingness to have a go. Here was the player who should have been closely policed by the Shamrock defence, but he found It so easy to be in the right place at the right time, and more often than not unmarked.

The two goals by the eentreforward. K. Morgans, were scored with simple cunning. His first, a controlled lob over a packed defence, dropped behind the 'keeper’s hands: his second was a gentle flick with his back to the goal which put ths ball out of Fellow’s reach as the "keeper moved forward to Intercept.

The hard drives for goal came from the outside-right, W. Qufcrke, whose two were very good shots, the second an unstoppable left-footed drive. It was disappointing to see the very talented full-back, R. Kerr, playing at inside-forward for Shamrocx. He was never happy in this position. It is true however, that Shamrock badly needs key men in the forward line. With W. having to play nearly all the game In Me own half, and the wingmen unable to get the better of Brighton’s full-backs, M. Elite, the young centre-forward, was left almost unaided. Under Pressure A game that was virtually City forwards versus Rangers defenders ended in the only posisble result: a comfortable victory for City. But this was not a match in which the losers gave up easily; from start to finish Rangers showed courage and determination that partly made up for a lack of finesse and combination. _ . . City, on the other hand, played with its usual polished precision, so much so that it appeared as though-It had more than the legal 11 men on the field. City has showed throughout the season that it is prepared to shoot and shoot hard within scoring range and it was a gem of a goal that T. Haydon scored in the concluding stages. Had it not been for J. Crulckshank, M. Shardlow and A. Proven the score could have doubled. These three proved a stumbling block to the opposition but were always under pressure because of the Inability of the forwards to retain possession. Spasmodic raids were the best Rangers could do against City’s defence and at no time did they really look like scoring. Haydon (2), J. Logue and R. Taylor netted Citys’ goals. Determination Wins There may not be a great deal of polish about the play of Shlrley-Nomada. but there Is no doubting the club's determination to fight for every vital point it can take in its deaperate battle to get clear of the relegation sone. And it was this determination to give away nothing that finally won them both points from the match with Technical.

Although Technical had more of the second half play and went close to scoring several times, Its players were far too lackadaisical earlier on when control of the play should have been won. After Shirley had taken the lead at 3-1 Technical became over-anxious to score and determination quickly degenerated into desperation and to its own downfall. Shirley twice took the lead tn the first half, was twice penned back, and then scored the winning goal from the penalty spot, when K. Ouwerkerk sent the goalkeeper the wrong way. Technical’s goalkeeper, I. Marshall, had one of his rare bad days. He dived over a long shot by G. Cooper to concede the first goal and rashly left his goal unguarded to let E. Rice slip through the second. F. Kay

and W. Logan replied for Technical. While Marshall was below his best, K. Flintham, in Shirley’s goal, was in magnificent form, particularly when Technical threw everything Into attack late in the second halt. He made one glorious save from Kay and several others of good repute. G. Cooper was the pick of Shirley’s forwards, and K. Ouwerkerk and K. Ballinger, the wing-halves, inspired their team’s win with solid play in the mid-field.

PW Goals L T A Pts Brunt. • 7 • 7 » 17 U 1 31 18 18 15 West. .. 9 5 3 18 15 11 Tach. .. 9 4 4 20 18 9 H.S.OB. 8 1 4 14 17 8kang. .. 8 3 5 11 31 8 Shir. .. 8 1 5 8 28 4 Chun. .. 8 0 7 11 30 1